the place where dreams go to die
by Someone aka Me
Summary: Collection of various angst drabbles. 1. Gabi/fem!OC. 2. Ginny and Percy, post CoS 3. Lucius/Astoria. 4. PercyOliverCedric. 5. Pscyhotic!Gilderoy. 6. wolfstarbucks, ww2. 7. PercyOliverCedric 8. blind!Seamus 9. RegBarty 10. MarleneDorcas 11. ChoGabrielle 12. RegulusLily 13. DracoSusan 14. SiriusGeorge 15. HarryPiers 16. TonksGabrielle
1. The Last Picture Show : GabiOC

Gabi is a hopeless romantic. It's not a trait that runs in her family. Veela, as a rule, tend to be cynical about love.

Gabi, though, Gabi falls easily in and out of love, and she always has.

She kissed her first boy at age seven and her first girl at age eight. She has crushes on boys and girls and people who say they're neither and people who say they're both.

Fleur tells her she's going to get her heart broken. Gabi isn't sure she cares.

Right now, she's sixteen and in love with Keira. Keira, who is shaped like an hourglass and has lovely skin the color of the dark night sky and eyes that are bright and warm and brown. Keira, who kisses her softly and sweetly and fiercely and wildly in turns. Keira, who isn't good at school but can draw so well the pictures leap off the page.

Their first date is a picnic on the Beauxbatons lawns and Gabi falls in love within the first ten minutes.

She is in love with Keira, and Keira says that she loves Gabrielle, and love, love is magnificent and Gabi isn't thinking about how quickly it all might end. She's thinking about the smooth skin of Keira's thighs. She's thinking about the way the muscles quiver as she runs her fingers just a hairsbreadth above the skin, just enough to disrupt the air, provide the ghost of sensation. She's thinking about the taste of her smile. She's thinking about a mass of dark curls spread across her pillowcase and the scent of cherry blossoms lingering in her sheets.

Kiera ends things on the lawn where they had that first picnic. She says that Gabi is too much, too fast. She can't keep up.

She's not sure she wants to.

.

Insane House: Location: Beauxbatons

Stickers: Transportation: Carriage - Write a fic set in a different Wizarding school

365 prompts: word - magnificent

Ff writing month (WC) 302

Dragons (WC) 302

Bath Bombs: All you need is love — Write about a character who is sure that the answer to everything is true love.

Weekly Tea: Hot Date Chai — write about a first date

Restriction of the month - no characters over 20, the word "smile"

Liza's Loves - title: the Last Picture Show

Buttons: Work Song by Hozier

Days of the Month Pop Music Chart Day - Write a fic inspired by "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran


	2. percy and ginny, post CoS

When Ginny comes back from the Chamber of Secrets, she is different.

Percy doesn't understand how he's the only one who seems to see it.

Ginny grew up outside, running through the fields behind their house, weeding the garden, soaring on her broom. She grew up wild and reckless and _free_ , a freer spirit than any of them.

She was the only girl but it never slowed her down; on the contrary, it made her run faster, leap higher, laugh louder. She's always been a wildfire burning bright, sometimes too hot to handle.

But after the Chamber, her fire is only embers.

He doesn't understand how no one else sees.

He knows better than to bring it up — Ginny has never liked anyone implying she's not strong enough to do things on her own.

Instead, he sits with her.

He doesn't tell her that it was imaginary or made up, and neither does he tell her that her feelings are understandable. He doesn't tell her it wasn't her fault. He doesn't tell her anything.

He brings his book up to her room and sits and reads on her floor. He plays a game of chess with her, but she spends more time staring at her dead pawn than playing, so he doesn't try that again.

He saves dinner for her on the nights she doesn't eat and he leaves a book by her bedside table every once in a while and he gets her a new notebook from a Muggle shop and colored inks to draw with, because she doesn't want to write in a diary anymore and she can't handle the feeling of parchment pages without trembling. He leaves them on her bed and doesn't say a word, but she gives him a small smile when she next sees him, and he knows she knows.

He offers himself if she ever needs him, but he doesn't ask her if she needs anything. Instead, he simply gives her his presence, and he watches as her flames slowly burn brighter and brighter, until he leaves her on the Hogwarts Express to perform his Head Boy duties and she smiles at him as he goes.

Her smile is wildfire bright.

..

For: LiM (Family, Percy/Ginny) (Writing Month (words): ) (Insane House:Character - Percy Weasley) (365: 144. Genre: Family) (Lent: 14. Only characters from one family.) (Scavenger Hunt: write about siblings) (Crafty Cooking: Random Item: No letter J) (Jewels: Ruby Necklace: Write about a Gryffindor) (Caffeine Awareness: 10. Cappuccino - Write a story using only two characters) (Character Appreciation: 31. Position: Head Boy) (Book Club:Charlie Ridgemont: (character) Ginny Weasley, (object) chess piece, (word) imaginary) (Showtime: 6. We Both Reached For the Gun - (word) Understandable) (Days of the Month:Get Over It Day - Write about a character getting over something.) (Lyric Alley: 17. And I'll hold you close, I'll stay the course)


	3. not afraid of your dark : LuciusAstoria

Astoria never meant to fall in love.

Especially not with the broken shell of a man that is her father-in-law.

Most people, her husband included, tell her that Azkaban ruined Lucius Malfoy.

They tell her he is a fraction of what he once was, a statue with no pedestal, a king without his throne.

They tell her he will never be the same.

But the truth is, she doesn't wish for what he once was. She never knew him then.

She knows him now.

She looks at him and she sees a man who has lost everything and is still standing.

She sees a man who can be successful again.

In the beginning, she talks to him mostly out of pity. She knows that he is alone.

He says that he is not lonely, but when she comes to his office, he tells her whatever she asks. He talks to her about the state of the world, about finances, about the problem with youth these days.

Later, after her pity has long since turned to interest, he talks to her about Azkaban, his voice proud but trembling, his hands steady as a rock.

His face dares her to call him on his insecurity.

She lets it slide.

When she looks at him, she sees a man who has lost his glory, but who has not lost the pride that keeps his spine straight or the conviction that keeps his mind sharp. She sees a competent, dedicated man who has lost his way.

She sees a man who did what he needed to do, who the world punished for it.

She wonders what he sees when he looks at her.

If he sees a daughter-in-law.

Or if he sees something more.

So she puts on her brightest red lipstick and her shortest dress — the one that dips down so far in between her breasts that if she leans forward, they'll spill out.

She lets her hair cascade over her shoulders.

When Draco stops her on her way out and asks where she's going, Astoria smiles with blood red lips and says, "I'm going to visit a friend."

Draco eyes her up and down, and lets her go.

She steps into Lucius's study, heels tapping out the beat of heartbreak, swaying her hips as she walks.

Astoria has always known how to emphasize her assets.

He's sitting in his chair. He looks up from his paperwork. His eyes widen.

She leans over the desk, putting her breasts on top of his paperwork, pushing out her ass and watching his eyes draw a straight line to it before dropping to her cleavage.

"Astoria. What a surprise," he drawls.

"Is it really, though?" she asks.

His lips draw up into a smirk. "I suppose not."

Less than fifteen minutes later, she's bent over his desk, papers scattered across the floor, and his fist is in her hair, tugging at the roots as he fucks her. It's just this side of too-painful and Astoria knows her grin is half-manic but she doesn't care.

…

It doesn't stop.

It's not a one time thing.

Astoria prefers it that way.

She lets her husband fuck her in the dark of night where she can pretend he's a little taller and a little slimmer and a generation older.

She fucks her father-in-law in the light of day, in his study, sometimes even in his bedroom when his wife is gone.

It's meant to be for fun.

It's not meant to be for love.

It's not meant to hurt.

…

Astoria looks at the glow of the spell surrounding her stomach in shock.

Pregnant.

She's pregnant.

She wonders who the child belongs to.

She wonders if it matters.

Either way, her child will be blonde and beautiful, made of sunlight and gold, just like Lucius.

She doesn't expect it to change anything.

When she tells Draco, he beams and hugs her tightly.

When she tells Lucius, he says, "This is over, then."

She knows her shock shows on her face. She doesn't mean it to, but this is so unexpected that she hasn't had time to brace herself.

He waves a hand, dismissive. "Surely you knew it couldn't last forever. The heir is to be protected. Simple. You knew this wasn't ever meant to be messy."

Mutely, Astoria nods.

Lucius's face is still cold, still dismissive. It lodges like a piece of ice in her sternum. "Some people care too much. I think it's called love." He smiles ever so faintly, telling her that that's meant as a joke. She doesn't laugh. "Luckily, you and I are smarter than that. This was… useful. It isn't any longer."

When she leaves, she wonders why she feels so broken.

It's only then that she realizes she loved him.

Astoria never meant to fall in love.

* * *

 **Assignment** : Arithmancy: Eight: The Powerhouse: write about a person who is considered to be in control feeling insecure

Auction Challenge: prompt: style: first and last sentence/word the same. words: 804

Couple Appreciation: word: Dedicated

Pinata: cross-gen

Film Festival: 12. Character - Criminal

April Writing Month: 804

Character Appreciation: 46. Word: Joke / Disney: Kanga - Use the dialogue, "Some people care too much. I think it's called love." / Amber's Attic: 12. I'd write love poems to the parts of yourself you can't stand. I'd stand in the shadows of your heart and tell you I'm not afraid of your dark. / Laura Moon: (plot point) cheating on your spouse, (word) cold, (color) gold / Showtime: 13. That Guy - write about feeling insecure / Buttons: C2: Astoria / Lyric Alley: 5. Full of pity now, but I don't know why / AAA: 16. Censorship - Plot Point: Rated M / Sophie's Shelf: Sympathy for the Devil: Write about someone seeing the good in a bad character. / TV: Tony Stonem: (character) Draco Malfoy, (colour) red, (trope) bad boy. / Lo's Lowdown: Tony Stark: trait: arrogance. Alt. write about someone who seems arrogant but is insecure.

Easter Egg Hunt: Lucius/Astoria / Easter Bingo: 70. Plot Point: Someone is pregnant / Make an Easter Basket:Scissors: (action) betraying someone / Guess the Name; Barbie - Lucius

365: 189. Location - Malfoy Manor

Insane house: Location - Malfoy Manor


	4. glamour fades : PercyOliverCedric

HSWW(C&A) Assignment 9 Religious Education: **9:** Sacrifice - Write about someone doing something they ordinarily wouldn't do, in order to prove their loyalty to a person, cause, etc

* * *

Percy stares at the parchment in front of him, desperately trying to figure out the right words to say.

He nibbles on the end of the quill without thinking, and then he hears Cedric's voice in his head. _How can you stand getting feathers in your mouth_? Oliver is behind him, laughing at both of them.

The truth is, Percy doesn't want to let them go.

He doesn't want to be alone. Not when he's been _so happy_.

But he's already left his family behind. Because they're _wrong_. He doesn't understand how everyone he loves is so wrong about all of this.

 _Voldemort isn't back_. He can't be. And he doesn't understand how the people he loves can trust the word of a fourteen year old over the entire Ministry. He doesn't understand how his father can say that his promotion was only because the Ministry was trying to keep tabs on them. It feels like an attack.

He doesn't understand how Cedric and Oliver can _agree_.

He hates leaving his family behind. He hates being at odds with them. But he can't stay with them when every conversation becomes an argument.

And it's becoming the same way with Oliver and Cedric and he _can't_.

In the end, he thinks the problem is the parchment itself. He can't do this by letter. He's been called an asshole plenty of times but he's not that brand of asshole.

So instead of the lengthy letter he intends to pen, he simply writes, _Diagon Alley, the 7th, 1PM. Yours, Percy_

He sends it to both of them, and then he folds his hands together and closes his eyes and hopes that he's doing the right thing.

He doesn't want to do this.

But it feels like a betrayal to Fudge if he doesn't. He believes in the Minister, and the Ministry. He believes in their attempts to do good in this world.

And he can't do that if his loyalty to the Ministry is constantly being bombarded by questions from people who claim to love him.

…

The bricks to Diagon Alley part ways and Percy takes a bracing breath.

Cedric and Oliver are already there, heads bent together. They look so beautiful together that it makes something deep inside of him ache.

The only upside is that they'll have each other.

They are, both of them, so beautiful and so complex and they need someone who understands, so at least they'll have each other.

Percy, though, Percy will be alone.

Oliver tips his head back in laughter and Cedric can't take his eyes off of him and Percy wants to cry.

He reminds himself that this is what is _right_.

He is doing this because he believes in it.

He is doing this because he is loyal to Minister Fudge and the Ministry.

He is doing this because he believes that it is what is best for this world.

It doesn't make it easier.

He steps forward, and the way Oliver's eyes light up when he catches sight of Percy tears something inside of Percy to pieces.

He smiles, but he knows it doesn't come out right.

"What's wrong?" Oliver asks. Cedric turns, his face worried.

"I love you both," Percy says without thinking. Maybe it isn't the best way to start this but he can't stop the words.

Cedric's worry doesn't clear. "Percy?" he asks.

Oliver's eyebrows have furrowed.

"I know you have questions but I need you to let me say all of this or I'm never going to get it all out."

Oliver looks like he wants to ask but instead he just nods.

"I realised I was in love with you when all of my decisions began to revolve around you," Percy says. "And I…" he stops. He was going to say, " _can't let that happen any more_ " but that feels too pointed a blow. He doesn't want to hurt them. He wants to tell himself that it was just a dalliance, but that would be trivializing what it meant to him. He wants to say that he's never been happier. He wants to tell them both how much he loves them and how that will never stop. He wants to _not do this_.

But he can't keep fighting them.

He can't keep arguing.

He can't keep listening to them tell him he's wrong because he works for the Minister.

In the end, he goes for something simple. He doesn't want to beleaguer the point.

"I can't," he says eventually. "I love you both, but I _can't do this_. It's over."

It feels like packing a suitcase and moving away from everything he's ever loved. It aches. _Fiercely_.

He watches as both of their faces fall simultaneously. Cedric steps forward, a hand extended but he never makes contact.

"What?" Oliver says. He looks stunned, and also a bit broken.

"I'm sorry," Percy says. "But I can't… we just _fight_. And I don't see an end. And I can't."

As it sinks in, Cedric steps back, and then stumbles. Oliver catches him, then looks Percy up and down and says, "You aren't who you used to be."

Percy _regrets_.

But this is what is best.

This is what he has to do.

He turns on his heel.

He walks away.

* * *

Writing Month: 880

Moresome May: Dialogue: "I realised I was in love with you when all of my decisions began to revolve around you." word count: 880

Character Appreciation: 30. (plot point) death in the family

Shannon's Showcase: 7. Switzerland: Word: Attack; Relationship: Brother/Sister

Showtime: 8. Who Am I? - (plot point) Making a difficult choice

Buttons: W4: dalliance

Lyric Alley: 24. Tell me what all the sighing's about

Cooking: Lemonade: Time: summer

Pokemon: title: glamour fades: : Suitcase; 3. Quote: "You're complicated. You need someone who get thats about you."; 5. Plot point: And you looked at me up and down and told me that I was not the same person as I was last year.

Debate: OT3, era: trio

Insane House: word: beleaguer


	5. garden of evil : psychotic Gilderoy

Assignment 10: Hags of History, Task 2: Write a story inspired by the Evil Queen in the fairytale of Snow White.

For Liza, who is the reason this exists.

* * *

"Mirror, Mirror, on the wall," Gilderoy says. "Who is the fairest of them all?"

But instead of saying, "You," like the mirror always does, instead, she looks at him and says, "I know they say love is blind, but darling, no love is that blind. I don't know how you stand it. It's like someone told you to be colourful like a rainbow and you thought it meant _let a rainbow vomit on you_."

Gilderoy stares at the mirror in askance.

He's always the fairest of them all. He's always the most fashionable. He always has the newest clothes.

He's not the princess. He's the motherfucking _queen._

Who _dares_ try to take that from him?

"Who is it? Who is the fairest of them all?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"You have to tell me! You said you'd always be there for me. But you're not. You're just… selfish."

"Darling, I only tell the truth," says the mirror. "And the truth is, Lucius Malfoy is the fairest of them all."

Gilderoy narrows his eyes, lowers his voice, and says, "Lucius Malfoy must die."

…

He knows he must have patience.

He writes the name down on a piece of parchment and then immediately burns it, not wanting to leave any evidence of his upcoming transgression.

He knows this is frowned upon, but he does not care.

He is the fairest of them all. He always will be. No one can take this from him.

…

He finds Lucius Malfoy in the gardens inside the Ministry. Gilderoy has been watching long enough to know that he often spends time there.

He sits down on the bench beside Lucius and says, "I'm going to sit back and listen to the world for a while. Care to join?"

Lucius turns to face him. He looks puzzled for a moment.

"Who… who are you?"

Gilderoy jumps up, enraged. "I am the _fairest of them all_. You will recognize me as such, or you will die!"

Lucius calmly pulls out his wand and says, "I worked hard for the title of fairest. I will not let you, a silly little _upstart_ , take it from me."

"Very well," Gilderoy says, and sends a stunner at him. Lucius throws up a shield, and the duel begins.

Spells fly every which way. Gilderoy ducks and weaves and shields and shoots.

In the end, the bushes of the garden are burning. A tree has fallen. The fountain is flooding.

And there, in the middle of it all, blood running down his temple and staining his golden locks, is Gilderoy Lockhart. He is laughing.

Though he doesn't look it right now, he is, once more, the _fairest of them all._

* * *

Writing Month: 450

Character Appreciation: 29. (dialogue) "I don't know how you stand it." / Disney: Q4: "You said you'd always be there for me! But you're not." / Creature Feature: Achiyalabopa: (dialogue) "Be colorful like a rainbow." & Actaeon: (word) transgression / Showtime: 6. I Dreamed a Dream - (phrase) Love is blind / Buttons: O3: Parchment / Lyric Alley: 17. And the grass was so green against my new clothes / AAA: 10. The Implant - (emotion) Jealousy / Sophie's Shelf: 14. Esmé Squalor: Alternatively, write about someone who spends a lot of money on clothes and make-up.

Photography Month: 7. Fashion Photography: Write about a fashionable person.

Scavenger Hunt: 6. Write a gift fic for someone in your house

Cooking: Rum: Emotion: Annoyance

Chocolate Frogs: 8. (Silver): Egbert the Egregious: Challenge: Write about a ferocious duel.

Pokemon: garden of evil. Snorlax: Word: Patience; Dialogue: "I'm going to sit back and listen to the world for awhile. Care to join?"; Spell: Stupefy

Geek Pride: Stand 2: Star Trek: (dialogue) "(name) must die." Stand 3: Death Note: (plot point) character deals his/her own justice

Insane House: Creature - Witch (Fairytale stereotype/Wicked Witch types etc)


	6. could be the end :: WolfStarBucks

Thanks to Bex and Liza for reading through!

* * *

They're all called up for the draft at the same time.

It seems impossible, but it's true.

And in a way, Remus is relieved.

He doesn't want to go to war, but neither does he want to be left behind.

At least if they're going, they're all going together.

That is, until Sirius and James pass the health tests — easy 1A — but Remus gets a 4F.

 _Unfit for service._

Sirius talks about deserting, heading for Canada **.**

Remus looks back at him, eyes wide, and says, "And risk… what? A life of captivity if they find you?"

"Better than death in some obscure field in Europe, isn't it?"

Remus takes a deep breath. "You don't believe that," he says. Because he knows them, James and Sirius, these men whom he loves more than is rational, more than is probably right. "You believe in this."

James looks at him, eyes tight, but Sirius, Sirius speaks.

"They're killing people, Remus. Some of them are dying just for being like us."

"I know," Remus says. "And that's why you're going to go. And you're going to leave me here. You're going to go defend your country, defend those people."

In the end, he's right.

They make spaghetti on the night when Sirius and James leave. It's a splurge, for them — the economic depression has hit most everyone hard.

They curl up in bed and don't speak as the night slips by and no one sleeps because they know this could be it.

This could be the end.

They leave, backpacks packed, brand new uniforms on, leaving Remus with only a picture frame that doesn't fill the void.

He feels alone.

No one else has ever understood him. Sirius and James saw through his sickness, saw the man underneath and loved him.

Everyone else has always seen pale limbs and shaky hands and the days Remus can't keep any food down.

Even on his good days.

He helps with the metal drives and the scrap drives and the rubber drives. He does what he can.

And on the nights when he doesn't want to be alone but is, he lights a cigarette and he sits in the bed they are supposed to share and he prays to all the deities whose names he can remember and several whose names he can't to bring them home.

He curls into Sirius's leather jacket and holds James's favorite blanket close and he wishes for them to come home.

To come back to him.

And after a year of desperate prayers, Remus is standing there when the red and black train engine pulls into the station and Sirius gets off, one hand limp at his side — the reason he's coming home.

His eyes are dark and shaded and Remus says, "The worst is over," and Sirius turns to him, eyes dead inside, and asks,

"Is it?"

And Remus doesn't know what to say.

So they wait together.

They wait together, curled up, limbs entangled and the nights don't feel so lonely but the worry feels twice as tangible.

Six months later, they stand together on the platform as a dark steam engine pulls into the station and James gets off.

He stumbles into their embrace, and it feels like home again.

* * *

Writing Month: 544

Moresome May: word: defend. Word count: 544

Disney: C9. Pumbaa - Write about someone who feels like an outcast. / Shannon's Showcase: 1. Czech Republic: Word: Spaghetti; Item: Backpack / Book Club: Captain: (au) soldier!au; (object) cigarette; (word) captivity / Showtime: 37. A Heart Full of Love (reprise) - (dialogue) "The worst is over." / Days: Military Spouse Appreciation Day - Write about someone left behind when a loved one goes to war / Buttons: O5: Picture frame / Lyric Alley: 21. Before the service began

Scavenger Hunt: 16. Use the prompt set: Sirius Black (character), red (colour), leather jacket (object)

Cooking: onion - angst

Insane house: AU: WW2


	7. when the levee breaks :PercyOliverCedric

Assignment 11: Arts and Crafts: **Task 2:** Write about someone putting the pieces of something back together (figuratively or literally)

* * *

It's not how Percy and Oliver wanted to meet Cedric's father.

Frankly, it's not really how Oliver wanted to meet anyone.

But here they are, a bruised and broken due that was once three, until the Dark Lord decided to use their third as a plot device and then toss him aside when he was finished.

Cedric is gone.

They loved him, and he is gone, and now a part of them is missing.

And here they are, at Cedric's funeral.

Here they are, and Oliver is saying to Mr. Diggory, "It's nice to meet you, sir. I'm Oliver. This is Percy."

"I've heard… so much about you," he says in reply. "Both of you. And please. Call me Amos."

His voice is weak and thready.

"Good things, I hope," Percy says softly.

Amos tries to smile. "So many beautiful things. He loved you."

Oliver and Percy exchange a look and then Oliver says, "We loved him. I know it doesn't help. But we did."

Amos presses his lips together tightly, and then says, "I'm still glad for it."

And Percy and Oliver move away, letting someone else take their place, pay their respects to Amos.

…

And then the funeral is over and it's just them.

It's just them and all their jagged edges, trying to fit together when there are gaps where Cedric used to be.

He was the newest part of them — once upon a time it was just Percy and Oliver, before they fell in love and had to figure out how that changed things.

And it seems like that would mean that they know how they work together without him.

But it doesn't work out that way.

Instead, it's periods of fighting over the stupidest things, like what to have for dinner, followed by periods where they can't seem to talk to each other about anything.

It's Percy going to work for a man who believes his boyfriend's death was an accident and not outright murder and coming home even more broken inside.

It's Oliver going to practice and feeling the distance between himself and his teammates and not knowing how to fix it, and coming home even more lonely than ever.

And it feels like it should be getting better but it isn't.

It isn't.

…

And then Percy comes home from a shitty day and Oliver won't decide what to make for dinner and Percy doesn't have the fucking effort to decide and suddenly he's _screaming_.

"You don't do _anything_ around here!"

" _I_ don't? You're always at work!"

"Because it's my _job_! It's not my fault that I have a _real job_ instead of playing sports all day!"

"Not a real job? Are you serious right now?"

"Yes, I am! You go to practice, and you fly around on a broomstick for a few hours, and then you come home and claim exhaustion and don't do a damn thing. You think I'm not exhausted?"

"From what, following Fudge around all day? Being his _bitch_?"

Percy goes quiet.

And then he bursts into tears.

They aren't quiet, polite tears.

They are massive sobs, shoulders shaking, breath gasping. He can't breathe. He can't _breathe_. It felt like righteous anger but now it doesn't and he wonders how it all went so _wrong_.

Suddenly, Oliver is embracing him, holding him up and guiding him to the couch. And Percy is sitting down and shaking with the force of it and Oliver's hands are trying to soothe him, rubbing his back.

"I'm sorry," Oliver says. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. You know I didn't. That was too far."

"It's not… even that," Percy says between gasps. "It's… I… who are we without him?"

Oliver bites his lip, eyes wide and pained, and then he says, "I don't know."

…

But that breaks some sort of dam between them.

It shatters something, and they're capable of _talking again_.

They can talk and actually listen to each other. And they're still argumentative and they're still broken but now they can fit the broken pieces back together, one by one.

They have dinner and Oliver cooks and Percy cleans, and something between them mends.

They go and see a Muggle comedy movie and they hold hands in the cinema and they turn to each other and share the joy at the funny parts, and something between them fits back together.

They have dinner with Percy's parents and Molly asks them about getting married and Percy _doesn't_ break down crying, and a bit of their broken puzzle fits back together.

The progress is slow but sure and sometimes they move backward before they can go forward, but it's still progress.

And throughout all of it, at least they aren't alone.

* * *

Writing Month: 789

Moresome May: plot point: meeting the parents; wc: 789

Character Appreciation: 21. (era) Trio

Showtime: 4. At the End of the Day - (word) Righteous

Cooking: beef: word: argument

Insane House: Emotion - Frustrated


	8. a disagreement : Mr & Mrs Finnigan

…

Seamus is born with eyes clouded white.

He's born in a Muggle Hospital, because his mother hasn't told his father about Magic yet, but the Muggle doctors can't do anything.

So Siobhan calls a Healer, and she knows that it's time to admit the truth to her husband.

She isn't sure how.

Mick is a kind man, but he's also very set in his ways, very traditional, and very, very Catholic.

In the end, she finds him by their son's crib, staring down at their sleeping son, and she just says, "Mick, I can do magic."

He blinks at her in shock.

"I've called a Healer to look at Seamus," she says. "A witch I know who's good with healing spells."

"What are you… You're freaking me out. Siobhan, how long has it been since you've slept?"

Which is a fair question, because she hasn't slept in about three days since her labour started, but that's not what this is about.

"I'm not crazy, Mick. I'm a witch."

And she knows she's going to need to prove it, so she pulls out her wand and she juggles a few of Seamus' toys in the air without touching them.

Mick's eyes go wide and he stumbles back, hitting the wall. The thump wakes Seamus, and he starts screaming before he even opens his eyes.

"No," he says, his voice low and horrified, and this is exactly what Siobhan feared, she'd always had a suspicion that he might react badly, but she needs a Healer to look at her son.

"It's okay," she says. "It's a gift, and I think it might be Seamus' best chance right now. That's why… That's why I'm telling you this."

"You want to let witches use _magic_ on our son?"

She breathes out, low and deep. "Magic isn't bad, Mick. It's about who wields it."

"No. No. I won't _let you_ ," Mick says, and he moves forward, scooping up his screaming son and making sure the yellow blanket is wrapped tightly around him. "I won't let you do this to him."

"It's who he _is_ ," she says and she knows her eyes are shining with frustrated tears, because this is her son and his life and his future, and she knows she may not have handled this perfectly but… Seamus has to be her priority here. " I should've known this would happen. There's magic in his blood, Mick. In his _soul_."

"That doesn't mean he has to use it. That doesn't mean he has to be damned like you."

The words feel like a dagger to the heart, a wound from the man she loved enough to leave her world behind.

Her tears are falling now, and she hates them, hates that they look like weakness. "Who told you that it makes you damned, Mick?"

But Mick doesn't answer, just turns to the door and she can't let him go. She can't let him take Seamus away from his only chance at sight.

Her wand is still loose in her fist and she raises it, putting a shield in the door that Mick cannot cross.

"I can't let you take him," she says, her calm words belying the tears on her face. "I can't."

When Mick turns back, his face is full of rage. "How dare you?"

"Don't you understand? For _him_."

"You'll regret it," he says. But Siobhan doesn't think she will.

Mick looks down at the child in his arms and his face softens into something Siobhan understands — affection. And she knows that he's trying to do what he thinks is best for this child of theirs.

But he's _wrong_. Magic is not what he's been told.

She wonders if it would've been different, if she'd told him before. Before Seamus, before this. If she'd given him time to come around.

But she didn't. And now here they are, staring down at the child that they both love, trying to do their best by him.

Mick looks up, at the doorway he knows he cannot cross. He looks back at her, her wand still slightly raised.

She watches the understanding dawn on his face that this is not a fight he can win.

He steps forward and places Seamus in his crib. He runs a finger down Seamus' cheek, gently. "I'm sorry," he says to the child, who whimpers softly.

And then he steps back and looks at Siobhan. "You are not who I thought you were," he tells her. "And I can't watch you do this. So this is goodbye."

Siobhan looks at him sadly, but she doesn't know how else this can end. So she lets him walk away.

* * *

Writing Month: 775

Seasonal: Days of the Year: Son and Daughter Day: Write a kidfic

Shay's Musical Challenge: Amélie - write about someone making a change in their own life.

Gryffindor Themed Prompts: Seamus

Character Appreciation: 3. (Blood Status) Half Blood / Disney Challenge: C1: Snow White - Write about someone running away. / Shannon's Showcase: 27. (Trait) Stubborn / Showtime:22. Dear Theodosia - (plot point) becoming a parent . Count Your Buttons: D2 "I should've known." / Lyric Alley: 22. I panic for a second, thinking "we're through" / Sophie's Shelf: Prompt: Write a KidFic / Angel's Arcade: Roxas: (emotion) confused; (plot point) choosing a side; (color) yellow / Lo's Lowdown: C5: Joly: AU: disability / Bex's Biscuit Barrel:Flapjack (is this even a biscuit though?); [word] Suspicion; [Character] Seamus Finnegan; [Emotion] Insecure

Funfair: North: Ghost train, compartment 1: "You're freaking me out." South: bumper cars: "who told you?" East: ferris wheel: (genre) family

Hamilton Mania: Act 1. 6. Disobeying a parent - (relationship) parent/child; optional prompt 1. (character) Seamus Finnigan

Canada Day: 17. A misunderstanding


	9. curls of smoke : RegBarty

…

Regulus lifts the cigarette to his lips, takes a deep drag, and breathes out slowly. The night air is cool and he leans his back against the brick of the Astronomy tower, tipping his head back and staring at the stars.

He hears footsteps approaching, but he just takes another drag. Either it's Barty or it isn't, but it doesn't matter by now.

"Can I have a light?" Barty's voice is crisp, matching the night air. The stress Regulus knows he is feeling doesn't show.

Regulus pulls the box out of the depths of his robes, offering it up. Barty takes it silently, and then sinks down beside him, shadowing his position.

Regulus shifts, in the way he always unconsciously does, letting his cloak sleeves fall down to hide the scar on his wrist that he got when he tried to stop Sirius from leaving.

Barty takes his wrist, fingers gentle, and whispers, "Your scars are a part of you. You don't need to hide them."

Regulus just takes a drag on his cigarette in reply.

Barty breathes in deeply.

"I know we're not supposed to talk about it, but I'm really not sure about this." Barty says. "Because… tomorrow is our last NEWT, Reg. "

Regulus sighs, tipping his head forward and turning to look at him.

"I know," he says eventually. Because he does. They've been writing and reading and studying nonstop.

Barty is looking at him, eyes bright and wide and earnest.

Regulus lets the silence sit between them. He knows that if he gives Barty the space, Barty will keep talking. Barty always caves first. And this holds true, even now.

"Where do we go from here?" Barty finally asks, tapping ash off the end of his cigarette.

Regulus takes another drag, tips his head back and blows out and up.

"In life?"

"In life. And… with us."

Regulus considers this.

The truth is, the question about life is easier. There's only one route that makes sense.

They're going to be Death Eaters.

But… the question of them is a harder one.

They've been coming together in the dead of night, a secret union.

Barty is a drawn kind of handsome, thin and pale with long fingers that play easy tunes on Regulus's skin. He draws lines with gentle strokes of his fingers that light Regulus on fire.

With Barty, he can sink into the moment and forget everything else.

But while Barty is a Pureblood, he is also a man.

And Regulus is not allowed to love him in the light.

He taps his cigarette, watches the ash fall.

His mother calls it a filthy habit. He wonders what she would say about his dalliance with Barty.

In the end, he takes a deep breath and says, "I don't know."

Barty frowns.

"Not exactly helpful, Reg. You're killing me with all this ambiguity."

"I don't think there's a right answer here," Regulus replies.

Barty hums in reply.

"We join the Death Eaters," Regulus says. "We go where they tell us. We help them purify this world."

"And us?" Barty asks.

Regulus draws on his cigarette, holds it in for a moment. He blows out, letting the smoke obscure the sky.

"You know that it's not going to get better," Regulus says, his voice calm, as though he's not tearing Barty apart with his words. "It's not ever going to be accepted."

Barty looks away. "I know," he says.

Because he does. They both know all too well.

Which leaves them here. In stasis.

So Regulus takes another drag of his cigarette, because for now, he can do nothing else.

* * *

Daily: BartyRegulus

602 words

Showtime: 11. Satisfied - (word) Union / AA: Slash 2. RegulusBarty Jr / Lyric alley 19. And I'm tryin' not to cry / AAA 15. Why am I listening to this show? — Write about a character questioning something. / Sophie's Shelf: 53. Word: stress / EE: Spain 2: Write a fic that takes place at night / BBB: Jaffa Cake (IS A BISCUIT DAMMIT); [word] Writing; [Character] Regulus Black; [Dialogue] "Your scars are a part of you, you don't need to hide them."

Ham Mania: Act 2, 5. Being blackmailed - (character) Barty Crouch Jr.; optional: cloak

Chocolate Frogs: Terry Boot: incorporate NEWTS.

Funfair: South: Bumper car: "You're killing me." North: Ice cream: Black Cherry and Licorice: Barty/Reg. East: Circus: Contortion: [Dialogue] "I'm really not sure about this."; [Word] Shadowing; [Emotion] Sad; [Action] Whispering

Insane House: Location: Astronomy Tower


	10. and she can't breathe : MarleneDorcas

Marlene is doing just fine, hurling curses every which way, carefully maintaining her shields, grateful for reflexes honed by years as a Quidditch Keeper. The thrill of battle is trembling in her limbs, and in the back of her mind she can feel echos of the same from Dorcas — in the same way that they've always been able to feel each other, soulmates to the core,

Except then Marlene feels a shock of pain in her chest, and then she's gasping for breath and it feels wet and rattling but when she looks down there's no wound and she _knows._

The fluid is filling Dorcas's lungs too fast, and Marlene feels Dorcas's certainty that this is the end. Dorcas is a healer. She knows the prognosis for a punctured lung on the battlefield.

And Marlene can't breathe.

She can't _breathe._

Marlene hisses in pain, drops to her knees clutching her side fruitlessly. She looks around with frantic eyes, trying to find Dorcas when they lost sight of each other ages ago.

She can't see her through the mass of people and spells and _bodies._

She takes in a gasping, shuddering breath. Her chest is on fire, but Dorcas is not afraid.

Marlene is.

Marlene is terrified of living without her.

She thinks about all that Dorcas is — quick smiles and swirling skirts and the sharp click of heels on stone floors as she walked down the hallway. She thinks about the cloud of floral scene that always followed her and the way her hair always fell in her eyes.

Marlene needs her.

But Dorcas is leaving anyway.

Marlene takes another gasping breath.

But then the pain fades away, and it's worse.

It's worse, because now Marlene can't feel anything at all.

Dorcas is gone.

And Marlene doesn't get to mourn, because she has to get up, and keep fighting.

It feels impossible.

But she has no other choice.

* * *

For romance awareness: you feel what your soulmate feels.

Sophie's shelf: DorcasMarlene

Amazing women: click of high heels


	11. Incandescent : ChoGabrielle

_Hi._

 _It's me._

 _I'm sorry, this is… I feel stupid. I've never been good at talking to headstones._

 _I'm not good at losing people, Gabrielle._

 _I wasn't ready to lose you._

 _But then, is anyone ever ready to lose their soulmate?_

 _This isn't what I wanted._

 _I lived the same day 397 times trying to find you. Some days, I thought I never would._

 _But then, on day 397, there you were._

 _I still remember the first thing I ever heard you say. One of the idiots who worked under you was being insubordinate and there you were in all your furious glory telling him, 'Just because I'm the boss, doesn't mean I'm bossy. And if you wouldn't say that to a man in charge, you shouldn't say it to me.'_

 _Your fury was incandescent._

 _And I knew._

 _I knew you were the one I'd been searching for._

 _And you were everything._

 _You were beautiful and determined and fierce and true. You were everything I needed._

 _And it's not fair._

 _It's not fair, Gabi._

 _Because I lived the same day 397 times trying to find you but then I only got 345 days to love you._

 _Why can't I get a do-over on the day I lost you? Why can't I live that day over and over until I can save you?_

 _It isn't fair._

 _I know. Life isn't fair._

 _It's not like I don't know loss._

 _I've lost too many people to count already._

 _But that doesn't make it easier. And it doesn't mean I'm any better at it._

 _You were my light in the darkness, Gabrielle. You were my dreams come true. You were smart and sharp and wildfire bright._

 _You burned so brightly. I guess it's no wonder you burned up so quickly._

 _It's been two months without you and I still don't know how to do this. You fit into my life so perfectly and now there's an empty space where you used to be, a gaping hole._

 _I don't know how to do this._

 _Please._

 _Please._

 _I don't even know what I'm asking for._

 _Just._

 _Please._

* * *

Sophie's Shelf 18. ChoGabrielle / Bex's Bazaar F2: Elephants can live to be over 70 years old - Alternatively, write about someone reminiscing.

Tea: Watermelon & Strawberry Slush: (restriction) Only Dialogue

Amazing Women: (dialogue) "Just because I'm the boss, doesn't make me bossy."

Auction: "This isn't what I wanted."

Romance Awareness: Day 12 - Groundhog day soulmates - a specific day loops until you find your soulmate ALT If you haven't met your soulmate but have been in the same vicinity of each other (like passing each other on a street or in the same building), that day will keep repeating until you find each other.

Word Count: 351


	12. not so meant to be : RegulusLily

Romance Awareness: Each soulmate pair has a constellation, and the constellation that you perceive to be the brightest is pointing towards where your soulmate is.

…

Regulus is seventeen when he follows his stars. It's Black family tradition. Everyone gets the stars on their sixteenth birthday — a constellation shifting in the sky, always in the direction of their soulmate.

Regulus's constellation is a flower. A calla lily. The petals show him the way.

The night of his birthday is bright and clear, and Regulus feels good about this. His stars are going to lead him to a beautiful Pureblood, the perfect soulmate. Someone who will help him carry on the line, especially after… well. His brother.

(Sirius's stars led nowhere at all, because he'd already found his soulmate. But Regulus only knows that because of Barty, who makes it a point to know everything. Sirius would never tell him.)

Regulus is trying not to think about what happens if his soulmate isn't someone his parents would approve of.

He takes a deep breath, and he follows the stars.

…

He finds a little house in Godric's Hollow.

He paces around the house. This is definitely where his stars lead.

But this can't be where they lead.

Because in the living room of that house, heads bent together, are James Potter and Lily Evans. He can see them illuminated in the light of a floating lantern — the lighting soft. Romantic.

Regulus doesn't understand.

James and Lily have been together since they were sixteen. He always assumed they were soulmates.

 _How can his soulmate be one of them_?

He watches, hidden in the shadows under charms, as James laughs, kisses Lily on the cheek (causing Regulus a flash of something that _is not jealousy_ and then a flash of irritation that he's felt anything at all) and then gets up and moves rooms.

Regulus looks up, but his stars don't shift at all. The calla lily shines bright, mocking him.

Lily Evans can't be his soulmate.

His soulmate can't be a Mudblood.

His soulmate can't _be in love with someone else_.

It's not fair.

He turns away.

He knows what he's supposed to do here. In the event that a soulmate is not suitable, they must be killed. That way the stars will fade, and will never be a distraction ever again.

But Regulus… can't do that.

His father calls him weak. His mother calls him soft. They blame each other.

Maybe they're both right.

Maybe it doesn't matter.

He Apparates away, and tells his mother that it is over. His soulmate will never be a problem again.

He asks for the Dark Mark two days later.

* * *

Writing Month/Dragons: 419

Auction: word: blame

Romance Awareness: Day 15

Holmes: emotion: irritated

Fortnightly: Snape, Shelf 1: 2. Sleep Draught – write about a sleepless night; Monster:

Amber's Attic: S3: 3. Blackwork- applies almost any body art that's created using solely black ink: Write about a member of the Black family. (5 bonus points) / Lyric Alley: 1. I am not a stranger to the dark / Ami's Audio Admirations: / Sophie's Shelf 27: Regulus/Lily. / Bex's Bazaar: O4: Stampy - write about winning something that you can't keep/do.


	13. watch her fall : DracoSusan

Romance Awareness: You don't realise that you've met your soulmate until you're having an intimate moment with them . However they realise that they've met their soulmate is up to you, but they KNOW.

* * *

He watches her fall, is the thing.

He watches her fall, but he knows she's not dead yet, so he moves toward her, because he's made his choice in this war.

This battle is where it all ends and Draco doesn't want to be a part of the side that believes people without magic should be punished.

It took him to long to figure that out, but he's here now, and he's made his choice.

So when he watches Susan Bones fall, he moves toward her, to see what he can do to help.

He slides to his knees beside her and casts a shield spell around them and he looks closer.

She's sprawled out on the stone floor, her breathing coming in gasps. There's a cut on her forehead, blood in her light brown hair.

But that's not what's wrong. Not really. And Draco can't tell what the problem is. He's not a Healer.

"What's wrong?" he asks her. "Where does it hurt?"

Susan pulls in a shaky breath. "Everywhere," she breathes out with a laugh.

He reaches out to touch her wrist, intending to take her pulse.

That's when the world goes bright in a flare. Draco's vision sparks.

It takes him a moment to understand.

 _Soulmates_.

He's finding his soulmate in the middle of a battle.

She smiles, and it's somehow both fragile and strong.

"I'm sorry… it had to happen… like this," she says, throat rasping as she inhales.

"No," he says. "No, I'm not… You're not dying."

"I don't… think… denying it… can stop it."

Draco doesn't understand. _This can't be happening_.

He reaches out, trying to wipe the blood from her forehead, but it just smears.

"No," he says firmly.

But Susan is right. That's not how this works.

Draco watches his soulmate take a last, shuddering breath, and then her head lolls back and he knows she's gone.

Except that's when something fractures his shield charm, and Draco knows that he doesn't even get time to process.

Susan is but one casualty of war. He has to make sure he isn't another.

* * *

Writing Month/Dragons: 346 words

Auction: Character: Draco Malfoy

Romance Awareness: Day 16

Fortnightly: Snape Shelf 3. 11. Skele-Gro – write about an injury

Debate: Trio Era, Draco

Lyric Alley: 19. Another round of bullets hits my skin

Sophie's Shelf: 1. DracoSusan


	14. break apart (come together):SiriusGeorge

Day 29 - The only words you can say are your soulmate's name until you meet them

* * *

In a world where the only word you can say until you meet your soulmate is their name, Sirius Black wants to know who the fuck named their child George.

George.

It's one syllable, for fuck's sake. How much inflection can he even get out of one syllable?

At least his parents were kind enough to give three.

...

Sirius learns sign and he learns to stretch out the syllable that he's been given, make it say all that he needs it to say.

But he gets older and older and meets more and more people and he still can't find this George. He still can't say any other words.

And then it doesn't matter, because he's not saying anything at all.

His world falls apart.

He goes to Azkaban.

He doesn't care that he doesn't have any words.

He doesn't care about syllables.

He doesn't care about anything anymore.

…

Except then Pettigrew is in the papers.

Pettigrew, the man Sirius trusted over Remus, just because his brother grew up saying Remus's name.

He's living with the Weasleys and looking all too pleased with himself and missing that damned toe.

And he must die.

So Sirius breaks out of Azkaban. They say it can't be done, but they're wrong.

And he meets his godson and Pettigrew escapes and Sirius finds a new kind of captivity.

He's broken pieces of a man and he'll probably never meet his soulmate and he couldn't even catch the monster that caused the deaths of his best friends.

But then the Weasleys move in to Grimmauld place and the twins remind him of James and a smaller version of himself, before the war and the death and the dementors, before he shattered to pieces.

And Sirius is smiling in a way he hasn't in a long time.

Fred chatters on and on — his soulmate is a boy named Oliver who he met at his first Quidditch tryout.

But George… Sirius has never heard George say a word. Not even a name.

And yeah, he wonders. Wonders if George Weasley can be his George.

He's not sure if he wants to know.

He's a broken mishmash of fragments claiming the shape of a man. George is young, with his whole life ahead.

But the night before they're meant to leave for school, George finds him alone in the kitchen and sits on the stool behind him.

"Hi," he says.

Sirius looks at him.

"Hi," he says back, his voice raspy, his mouth not quite sure how to form this new sound.

Maybe George can help him put himself together again.

* * *

Writing Month/Dragons: 433

Auction: genre: angst

Romance Awareness: Day 29

Sophie's Shelf: 80. Sirius/George

Lyric Alley: 3. Cause we don't want your broken parts


	15. reaching out : PiersHarry

Piers is supposed to hate Harry.

This is made clear by Dudley, who says his cousin is a freak and a delinquent and not to be trusted. Says he wakes up screaming like a baby, what a weak-minded fool.

The thing is… the thing is Piers looks at him, sees the look in his eyes, and Piers understands.

They're 15 now but Piers remembers being seven years old and still too skinny for anyone to guess he was over five, remembers Harry being the same way.

Piers remembers expecting the world to hurt him because that was all it had ever done, and he sees the same reflected back in Harry's eyes.

Except for Piers it got better. His parents died and his cousin took him in and it got better. With Max, he could look out for his own welfare instead of trembling away from anything that made a move toward him. Now he fends the world off with his fists and a few biting comments, and nothing can make him feel that way again.

(Nothing but the pain of remembering, nothing but waking up screaming in the middle of the night like a _baby_ , like a _weak-minded fool_ because he's dreaming of his father's hand at the back of his neck, shoving his face into the floor and he's _sobbing_ because nothing feels so real as a memory that has become a nightmare).

So.

Piers can't hate him.

Piers understands him.

And when he finds a moment to approach him alone and reaches out with a tentative hand, expecting his offering to be refused, he finds Harry looking back with something all-too-like recognition, and he finds Harry reaching back.

…

365: welfare

Insane: 694: no purebloods

Amber's Attic: (Pairing type) slash - 5 bonus points

Pairing the Character: Harry/Piers, 280 words


	16. fracture : TonksGabi

please don't tell me to explain this ship just go with it.

...

"Please," Gabrielle says. Her voice is fractured, crackling. She hates it, hates the way it makes her sound so _young_. Underscoring the eleven years between them.

Tonks' face is expressionless but Gabi knows her well enough to see the emotions rolling in her eyes, too many to parse, conviction and pain and so much elsee.

"Please," Gabi says again. "Please, don't do this."

She feels her heart splitting open in her chest, the muscle tearing apart, pumping blood into her chest cavity.

"I can't," Tonks says, and her voice is soft in a way that shoves a chisel into Gabrielle's breastbone, hammers it in until that's splitting too, until she's cracked open and vulnerable in front of Tonks. "I can't do this anymore, Gabi."

"But _why?_ "

Tonks shakes her head, shoulders her bag, and turns to go.

"Dora," Gabi says, her voice less fragile but still all-too-full of the rasp of shattered glass in her throat. "If you look me in the eye and tell me you don't love me, I'll let you go. But _please_."

And maybe she shouldn't beg. Maybe she should have more dignity.

But she's watching the love of her life turn and walk away from everything they've spent two years building and she doesn't understand.

At her words, Tonks pauses for just a moment, a hesitation before her foot falls.

But then it does. It falls with a resounding finality, and Tonks walks away, leaving Gabi standing in the middle of their living room, carved open and bleeding out.


End file.
